


A New Life

by itsapalace



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Dragons, Gen, Haircuts, Happy Birthday Thalia, How Do I Tag, New Beginnings, POV Thalia Grace, Running Away, Tags Are Hard, Thalia backstory, Thalia has childhood trauma, Thalia has trust issues, Today is Thalia’s birthday (December 22), cutting your hair can help you cope, pre camp Thalia and Luke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28252170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsapalace/pseuds/itsapalace
Summary: After Jason’s disappearance, there’s nothing left for Thalia in LA. Certainly not her mother. Her life with Beryl Grace was over. Any amount of monsters were better than that one. It was her against the world. Until the goat led her to Luke.A little Pre-camp Thalia backstory
Relationships: Beryl Grace & Jason Grace & Thalia Grace, Luke Castellan & Thalia Grace
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	A New Life

**Author's Note:**

> Today is Thalia’s birthday (December 22) so I wrote this for her. It took me a few hours but it was worth it. Anything for my favorite Hunter of Artemis! <3 Am I the only one who celebrates (technically) fictional characters birthdays?

Cutting your hair symbolizes many different things. Thalia’s favorite definition was from Native American culture. Where cutting hair represents their time with a loved one. Which is over and gone. Separating yourself from your past life. 

For as long as she could remember, Thalia’s hair has been long. She doesn’t remember having ever cut it. Not even when she was a baby. With the many compliments on the long black locks, it was never something she considered. And she knew her mother would freak out if she did. Thalia didn’t need her mother drunk and yelling at her anymore that she already did unprompted. And she had good memories of being a little kid, when her mom used to do her hair before school. Her mother had always said it was the most beautiful part of her. Then again, Beryl Grace had also abandoned her four year old son in the middle of California so what did she know. 

Nothing.

She didn’t know that Thalia and Jason were a package deal. And without him, there was no way in hell she’d be staying. 

Thalia was leaving this hellhole.

Leaving the dirty dishes in the sink. And her room with the pink walls. Leaving the Vodka bottles littered everywhere. The alcohol stains on the carpet. But most importantly, she was leaving Beryl Grace. 

Her backpack was already packed. A couple changes of clothes, some food, one full and one empty water bottles, and a few other things. There was only one thing left to do.

Thalia stared at herself in their dingy bathroom mirror. One last look at her mid back length hair. Her electric blue eyes glittered. Determined. With one last deep breath, she raised the kitchen scissors. 

Snip.

Snip.

Snip.

Black pooled beneath her. Her past fell along with the locks of hair

Jason.

Her mom.

The Grace name.

She smiled. The lack of familiar weight felt like the beginning of a new life. A life of her own. Of spiky, uneven hair that barely touched her shoulders. Thalia grabbed her backpack and walked out the front doors. Without as much of a glance to her mother passed out on the couch. 

She spent the night under the slide at their local playground. There weren’t many places for a ten year old to sleep. It wasn’t like she could book a hotel. Stealing her mom's debit card didn’t make her less of a child. It was a good thing she was cute. People gave her stuff. With every day that passed she traveled farther away from the old LA apartment.

She was in Nevada when the first monster attacked. An empousa. She barely made it out alive, stabbing it with a scrap of bronze metal that she’d found. It seemed to be the only thing that killed them. After that the attacks were relentless. Thalia sharpened the scrap and attached it to a stick so she had something resembling a spear. So she could defend herself from the monsters. 

A whole new kind of monster.

At least these ones she could read about how to defeat in the public library. Stories and lessons from demigods. Fellow demigods. Other children of Zeus. 

She had known she was a demigod since she was a very young child. Her mother never shut about it. One of her favorite things to say was- _no Thalia. We don’t think about her. Never again._

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Six of them. Six months of running with nowhere to go, fleeing from the monsters. Learning. Fighting. Trying to survive. At least no one from the mortal world was out to get her. It was like no one had even noticed she was gone. There was nothing better. It was her against the world.

Until one day the goat showed up.

Yep a goat. The barnyard animal. A fairly normal looking one at that. Until she noticed the Greek letters on its udders. Her mind flashed back to the public library and her extensive research. This was Amalthea. When Rhea hid Zeus from Kronos, she ordered Amalthea to nurse him. Thalia pushed away the images creeping into her head of her father suckling on a goat. Ew. 

Why was she here? There was always a possibility...she was a daughter of Zeus after all..Was this goat a sign from her father? Had he finally decided to step it up and keep her from dying? Even if she wasn’t-Amalthea wasn’t dangerous so there was a low chance of being killed by her. Thalia followed the goat. 

Right into a dragon cave. 

So much for the goat not killing her.

Anger clouded her thoughts. _She should have known. Her father had never intended to help her. He wanted to kill her. Cleanse the world of the child he never meant to have._

Then she saw the boy. He looked about her age, with sandy blonde hair. And he was fighting a dragon with a golf club.

Idiot. Dragons had tough scales that were very difficult to beat with weapons. No sword or arrow could easily break their hides. Much less a golf club. He was going to get himself killed. With that thought she raised her spear into the air and tried to summon lightning. It was a difficult power and incredibly draining. She has only managed to do it a few times before, but this was the first demigod besides herself she’d ever met. Thalia couldn’t just let him die.

The sky crackled and a bolt of lighting shot into the dragon. The boy jumped back in shock as the monster exploded into gold dust. He looked back at her, shocked and questioning. His blue eyes were wide. A gentle blue, not like the electric shade Thalia herself had.

“Thanks for that,” he said, walking towards her. 

“Anything for a fellow demigod.” She replied, trying to stay on her feet. She wanted nothing more than to find the closest park and collapse on a bench. But the boy didn’t go anyway- just stared at her curiously.

“Who's your godly parent?” He asked. She sighed. If he wouldn’t leave, might as well get to know him.”

“Zeus. You?”

“Hermes.”

She could practically hear the grimace in his voice.

“They suck don’t they,” she acknowledged. 

He only nodded but there was pain in his eyes. She decided to drop it.

“Well I better get going. Lightning takes a lot out of me.”

That got his attention. He looked up shocked and fidgeted with his arms. A small blush brushing his cheeks.

“Or we could...I dunno..I’ve never met someone like me before...we could team up? Watch each other’s backs.” 

Thalia hesitated, freezing in place. New people meant strings. A chance that they could hurt you. But this mysterious boy wasn’t her mother. He wasn’t going to hurt her. A new life meant new people to spend it with.

“Sure. Why not.” She replied

“I’m Luke by the way. Luke Castellan.”

“Thalia.”

He ran to catch up, matching her stride. 

“No last name?” He asked.

She smiled to herself.

“No. Just Thalia


End file.
